Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 March 2014
112. Deputy Joanna Tuffy asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will change the rules to allow eligible persons to indicate their interest to their social protection office in community employment, Gateway and Tús schemes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12583/14]
View answer113. Deputy Joanna Tuffy asked the Minister for Social Protection if participants on Gateway will be eligible for training while on the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12584/14]
View answer114. Deputy Joanna Tuffy asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of Gateway places offered and filled in the area of the four Dublin local authorities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12585/14]
View answer119. Deputy Joanna Tuffy asked the Minister for Social Protection the penalties that apply if someone does not take up an offer of a place on Gateway and if the same penalties apply in respect of other schemes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12626/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 112 to 114, inclusive, and 119 together.
Tús and Gateway were established to provide short-term, quality work opportunities for those who are long-term unemployed. A key feature of these initiatives is that all selection is undertaken by random processes conducted at local level by the Department of Social Protection. Tús and Gateway are part of a suite of interventions the Department funds and they are designed to meet the priorities established by the Government in Pathways to Work.
A customer in receipt of jobseeker's payment is required to take up reasonable offers of work or training in order to retain entitlement to that payment. The opportunities offered under Tús and Gateway fall within that condition. If a reasonable opportunity of work, a work placement or training is refused without good reason, a suspension may be applied to a customer’s social welfare payment in the first instance. Should a customer continue to refuse to take up a reasonable offer under various schemes, the Department may take steps to penalise the jobseeker by reducing the value of the jobseeker's weekly payment.
While I have no proposals to alter the operational arrangements for Tús or Gateway, the Department monitors the operation of all programmes and schemes on an ongoing basis and will alter arrangements where these are considered necessary to achieve the objectives set by the Government. Advice on the opportunities across a range of work placement, internships, self-employment, training and educational supports and options can be accessed via the Department’s offices and Intreo service and further information is available on the Department’s website – www.welfare.ie.
While 3,000 places have been allocated to Local Authorities under Gateway, to date progress on the roll-out has been slower than anticipated. The following table provides details of the allocation of Gateway places offered and filled in the four Dublin local authorities up to Friday, 7 March.
Allocation and places filled on Gateway
|
Local Authority |
LA Target based on LA bands |
Places Filled (week ending 7 March 2014) |
|
Fingal County Council |
215 |
10 |
|
Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council |
110 |
- |
|
Dublin City Council |
295 |
- |
|
South Dublin County Council |
215 |
- |
|
Total |
835 |
10 |
